Universal Tablet Holder

ABSTRACT

A tablet holder includes a holding frame and fasteners at corner regions of the holding frame by which a variety of tablets of differing size can be secured to the holding frame. The fasteners include straps for passing over the corner regions of the tablet. A number of selectable anchor points are provided at the holding frame corner regions from which the straps can extend, each being selectable depending on the dimensions of the tablet.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a holder for personal computingdevices such as the various Apple iPad™ and Samsung Galaxy™ tablets orother devices such as mobile telephones. The disclosure moreparticularly, although not exclusively, relates to a holder by whichsuch devices (and those of other brands) of different sizes can be heldand supported in various display configurations ranging from portrait tolandscape.

Various tablet holders are known, but each is limited by certainFeatures—some more useful than others. For example some support thetablet in a single fixed position which may not be suitable for someusers, and others are specifically dimensioned for particular tabletmodels, or various models of the same standardised size.

SUMMARY

There is disclosed herein a tablet holder including:

a holding frame;

fasteners at corner regions of the holding frame by which a variety oftablets of differing size can be secured to the holding frame,

characterised in that the fasteners include:

straps for passing over said corner regions of the tablet; and

a plurality of selectable anchor points at the holding frame cornerregions from which the straps can extend, each being selectabledepending on the dimensions of the tablet.

Preferably the straps each include a T-piece at an end thereof and theanchor points comprise apertures through which the T-piece can pass.

Preferably each strap includes a T-piece at both of its ends.

Preferably each strap is elastic.

Preferably the apertures are in arrays.

Preferably the holding frame includes sound reflectors to reflect soundemanating from speakers in the tablet, the reflectors being sufficientlylarge to reflect said sound from tablets of various size.

Preferably the holding frame is pivotally attached to a backing board.

The tablet holder will advantageously provide convenient means forholding tablets of various size and shape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred form of the present invention will now be described by wayof example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective illustration of a tablet secured to atablet holder in a booklet;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective illustration of the underside of atablet holding frame; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective illustration of the top side of atablet holding frame.

DEFINITION

As used herein the term “tablet” is intended to encompass any hand-heldcomputing device with a display panel and/or touch screen, touch pad orkeyboard.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the accompanying drawings there is depicted schematically a tabletholder 10 typically formed of moulded plastics material. The tabletholder includes a backing board 11 which might be part of a desk stand(not shown) or form part of the cover of a tablet-holding booklet asillustrated in FIG. 1 for example.

The holding frame 12 includes a circular array of resilient claws 24.Radially outboard of the claws 24 is an arc of indentations 23.Extending also from the holding frame 12 is a pair of swivel stoppers18. These parts enable the holding frame 12 to pivot within a range of90° with respect to the backing board 11 so that a mounted tablet can beoriented between portrait and landscape orientations.

At each corner region the holding frame includes anchor points includingparallel arrays of apertures 30. These could be individual aperturesalong the bottom of parallel (or non-parallel) troughs 33. Alternativelya single elongate and narrow aperture might comprise a plurality ofdiscrete widenings.

Elastic straps 31 have at each end a T-piece 32. As an alternative toT-pieces, the straps might simply have knotted ends or beads forexample. Each T-piece is dimensioned to pass lengthwise through anyselected one of the apertures (or widenings) 30. Once through, theT-piece is allowed to revert to its transverse orientation whereat it istoo wide to pull back through the chosen aperture or widening 30. Thediameter of each T-piece is typically chosen to coincide with theinternal curvature of the trough 33 from which the apertures 30 extend.The T-pieces can therefore sit in the trough and elastic tension of thestrap 31 will maintain the location of the T-pieces partly within thetrough 33.

The strap 31 passes over a respective corner region of the tablet 20.Which particular apertures are chosen depends on the size of the tablet20. For example different apertures 30 could suit a variety of seveninch tablets, or a variety of ten inch tablets.

The holding frame 12 includes large sound reflectors 34 which wouldreside under and around the perimeter of a mounted tablet 20. Suchspeakers in popular tablets are generally side-firing or rear-firing anddo not provide good sound quality to the area directly in front of thescreen. The sound reflectors 34 have a concave surface formed integrallywith the holding frame 12 and are shaped somewhat like ears to reflectthe sound from the speakers forward to the viewing area.

Small stands 17 extend from two edges of the holding frame. These enablethe holding frame to be set upon a desk top for example in eitherlandscape or portrait orientation.

1. A tablet holder including: a holding frame; fasteners at cornerregions of the holding frame by which a variety of tablets of differingsize can be secured to the holding frame, characterised in that thefasteners include: straps for passing over said corner regions of thetablet; and a plurality of selectable anchor points at the holding framecorner regions from which the straps can extend, each being selectabledepending on the dimensions of the tablet.
 2. The tablet holder of claim1 further characterised in that the straps each include a T-piece at anend thereof and the anchor points comprise apertures through which theT-piece can pass.
 3. The tablet holder of claim 2 further characterisedin that each strap includes a T-piece at both of its ends.
 4. The tabletholder of claim 1 further characterised in that each strap is elastic.5. The tablet holder of claim 2 wherein the apertures are in arrays. 6.The tablet holder of claim 1, further characterised in that the holdingframe includes sound reflectors to reflect sound emanating from speakersin the tablet, the reflectors being sufficiently large to reflect saidsound from tablets of various size.
 7. The tablet holder of claim 1,further characterised by a backing board to which the holding frame ispivotally attached.